Skyscraper Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDAEAFEGHI AAJKLHM NOAP NQRSTI UVKWXYZA2B2NC2Y D2E2YF2G2 H2I2J2K2L2M2MCY XN2O2AP2Q2R2F2A2ITYX S2 T2XU2V2Q2W2MQMV2X2B

By day the skyscraper looms in the smoke and sun andA
has a soulB
Prairie and valley streets of the city pour people intoC
it and they mingle among its twenty floors and areD
poured out again back to the streets prairies andA
valleysE
It is the men and women boys and girls so poured in andA
out all day that give the building a soul of dreamsF
and thoughts and memoriesE
Dumped in the sea or fixed in a desert who would careG
for the building or speak its name or ask a policemanH
the way to itI
-
Elevators slide on their cables and tubes catch letters andA
parcels and iron pipes carry gas and water in andA
sewage outJ
Wires climb with secrets carry light and carry wordsK
and tell terrors and profits and loves curses of menL
grappling plans of business and questions of womenH
in plots of loveM
-
Hour by hour the caissons reach down to the rock of theN
earth and hold the building to a turning planetO
Hour by hour the girders play as ribs and reach out andA
hold together the stone walls and floorsP
-
Hour by hour the hand of the mason and the stuff of theN
mortar clinch the pieces and parts to the shape anQ
architect votedR
Hour by hour the sun and the rain the air and the rustS
and the press of time running into centuries playT
on the building inside and out and use itI
-
Men who sunk the pilings and mixed the mortar are laidU
in graves where the wind whistles a wild songV
without wordsK
And so are men who strung the wires and fixed the pipesW
and tubes and those who saw it rise floor by floorX
Souls of them all are here even the hod carrier beggingY
at back doors hundreds of miles away and the brickZ
layer who went to state's prison for shooting anotherA2
man while drunkB2
One man fell from a girder and broke his neck at theN
end of a straight plunge he is here his soul hasC2
gone into the stones of the buildingY
-
On the office doors from tier to tier hundreds of namesD2
and each name standing for a face written acrossE2
with a dead child a passionate lover a drivingY
ambition for a million dollar business or a lobster'sF2
ease of lifeG2
-
Behind the signs on the doors they work and the wallsH2
tell nothing from room to roomI2
Ten dollar a week stenographers take letters fromJ2
corporation officers lawyers efficiency engineersK2
and tons of letters go bundled from the building to allL2
ends of the earthM2
Smiles and tears of each office girl go into the soul ofM
the building just the same as the master men whoC
rule the buildingY
-
Hands of clocks turn to noon hours and each floorX
empties its men and women who go away and eatN2
and come back to workO2
Toward the end of the afternoon all work slackens andA
all jobs go slower as the people feel day closing onP2
themQ2
One by one the floors are emptied The uniformedR2
elevator men are gone Pails clang ScrubbersF2
work talking in foreign tongues Broom and waterA2
and mop clean from the floors human dust and spitI
and machine grime of the dayT
Spelled in electric fire on the roof are words tellingY
miles of houses and people where to buy a thing forX
money The sign speaks till midnightS2
-
Darkness on the hallways Voices echo SilenceT2
holds Watchmen walk slow from floor to floorX
and try the doors Revolvers bulge from their hipU2
pockets Steel safes stand in corners MoneyV2
is stacked in themQ2
A young watchman leans at a window and sees the lightsW2
of barges butting their way across a harbor nets ofM
red and white lanterns in a railroad yard and a spanQ
of glooms splashed with lines of white and blurs ofM
crosses and clusters over the sleeping cityV2
By night the skyscraper looms in the smoke and the starsX2
and has a soulB

Carl Sandburg



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Andy Voikos: "Skyscraper:"
Excellent poem about the complexity of building construction...brings to life those who had a hand in its creation, and teaches us that a brick & mortar building has a soul, and therein beats a human heart.
 

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